Scientists have used gene therapy to regenerate damaged nerve fibres in the eye, in a discovery that could aid the development of new treatments for glaucoma, one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide.
How does the brain make connections, and how does it maintain them? Cambridge neuroscientists and mathematicians are using a variety of techniques to understand how the brain ‘wires up’, and what it might be able to tell us about degeneration in later life.
Our brains are plastic. They continually remould neural connections as we learn, experience and adapt. Now researchers are asking if new understanding of these processes can help us train our brains.
From the way we learn, to how our memories are made and stored, the workings of our brains depend on connections forged between billions of neurons, yet much about how our nervous system develops remains a mystery.
A group of researchers from the UK have used inkjet printing technology to successfully print cells taken from the eye for the very first time.
Researchers have offered a convincing new theory which explains why children believe that they are invisible when they cover their eyes.
Towards the end of their training, student doctors have the chance to spend an elective spell working overseas, often in developing countries. Cambridge University medics, Daniel Jackson and Mohammad Razai spent two months in Botswana working in the eye clinics of government hospitals.
Research provides insight into why flies have the fastest vision in the animal kingdom.
By combining advanced imaging with powerful genetic labelling techniques, Professor Bill Harris has imaged the entire process of retinal development in four dimensions, providing new insights into the enormous complexity of the nervous system.
Technology developed at the University of Cambridge to detect peripheral visual field loss in young children will enable the earlier detection of brain tumours, potentially saving sight and lives.
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